In addition to the recent news that Justin Kurzel’s serial killer feature Snowtown and shorts Bear and The Father will make their UK debuts at the 55th BFI London Film Festival, the city’s other big October fest, the indie-spirited Raindance Film Festival, features a wealth of Australian talent, running between September 28 and October 9 at the Apollo Piccadilly, London.
OFFICIAL FEATURE SELECTIONS
Still blazing his own path, the indomitable Jon Hewitt (Redball, Acolytes) returns to the big screen with his latest feature X, a gritty erotic thriller set amidst Sydney’s seedy King’s Cross district, where two women plying the world’s oldest trade experience an ugly night that will change their lives forever. After screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Melbourne and Sydney Underground fests, as well as gaining a theatrical, VOD and DVD release in North America via IFC Films, X finally makes its European debut with a Raindance screening on October 6.
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Violence is met with diplomacy in an entirely different kind of workplace, as Face to Face traces the story of a young man on trial for assaulting his boss and the out-of-court conflict resolution sessions which constitute a process known as restorative justice. A true ensemble piece based on a play by David Williamson, Face to Face is the first Australian feature for US-based director Michael Rymer since 1995’s AFI Award winning drama Angel Baby. Running a close second for the Audience Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival and doing the rounds of North American festivals, it is currently playing in Australian cinemas and will make its UK debut at Raindance on October 7.
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In addition to the more hefty fare of X and Face to Face, Australian cinema will also bring its lighter side to Raindance with the farcical comedy-drama, The Wedding Party. A marriage of convenience is thrown into chaos by the groom’s deeply dysfunctional family in this feature debut by writer-director Amanda Jane. Ahead of an Australian theatrical release in 2012, The Wedding Party will have its European premiere at Raindance on October 8.
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Also amongst the official feature selections at Raindance is the product of a bold attempt by British filmmaker James Fair and his crew to shoot, edit and screen a feature film in 72 hours during the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival. The Ballad of Des and Mo relates the tale of a happy Irish couple who embark on a second honeymoon in Australia, but are faced with lost luggage, an unforgiving ATM and an Antipodean adventure. Billed as a film about love, luggage and living on the edge, it shows at Raindance on Sunday October 8, the same day as I’ve Got This Idea for a Film, a documentary following Fair and his crew as they embark on their near-impossible mission.
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DOCUMENTARIES & SHORTS
Australia’s lone presence in the feature documentary strand at Raindance 2011 is Phoebe Hart’s deeply personal hour-long doc Orchids – My Intersex Adventure, a road-trip of self-discovery in which Hart questions her own family and seeks answers as to how others confronted their own intersexuality. Following its sellout premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival in 2010, the film has toured festivals in Australasia and North America and will make its European debut at Raindance on October 8.
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The Radical Agendas shorts programme, screening on October 3, sees documentarian David Blackall transform Super 8 footage shot twenty years ago in the contested region torn between India and Pakistan into his personal portrait of the conflict, Lost Innocents of Kashmir.
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Last but by no means least, Matt Vesely’s The Thing About Dolphins screens in the Nova Express shorts strand on October 7, and is an 18-minute burst of absurdist comedy-drama which may or may not actually feature any of the eponymous marine mammals.
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Europe’s leading independent fest, the 19th Raindance Film Festival runs at London’s Apollo Piccadilly Cinema from 28 September to 9 October, 2011.
The Far Paradise 